On SPARC based systems, Solaris defines eight disk slices and assigns to each a conventional use. These slices are numbered 0 through 7. The following table summarizes the contents of the eight Solaris slices on a SPARC based system.
Table 31–2 SPARC: Customary Disk Slices
Slice |
File System |
Usually Found on Client or Server Systems? |
Purpose |
---|---|---|---|
0 |
root (/) |
Both |
Holds files and directories that make up the operating system. |
1 |
swap |
Both |
Provides virtual memory, or swap space. Swap space is used when running programs are too large to fit in a computer's memory. The Solaris operating environment then “swaps” programs from memory to the disk and back, as needed. |
2 |
— |
Both |
Refers to the entire disk, by convention. This slice is defined automatically by the format utility and the Solaris installation programs. The size of this slice should not be changed. |
3 |
/export |
Server only |
Holds alternative versions of the operating system. These alternative versions are required by client systems whose architectures differ from that of the server. Clients with the same architecture type as the server obtain executables from the /usr file system, usually slice 6. |
4 |
|
|
Optional slice to be defined based on your site's needs. |
5 |
|
|
Optional slice to be defined based on your site's needs. Can be used to hold application software added to a system. If a slice is not allocated for the /opt file system during installation, the /opt directory is put in slice 0. |
6 |
/usr |
Both |
Holds operating system commands (also known as executables). This slice also holds documentation, system programs (init and syslogd, for example) and library routines. |
7 |
/home or /export/home |
Both |
Holds files that are created by users. |